Checking fixtures in the automotive industry are generally used for inspecting the shape and measures of vehicle components. Checking fixtures are particularly useful for inspecting vehicle components having complex shapes. For a vehicle component inspection, the vehicle component is fixated in the checking fixture by holders arranged at specific locations in the checking fixture. Once the vehicle component is fixated, measurement devices are used for determining measures in predetermined directions and locations of the vehicle component.
Checking fixtures are generally manufactured with relatively high precision and a common manufacturing method for producing checking fixtures is to use a milling technique starting from a large block of e.g. a composite material or a plastic material. Furthermore, for every vehicle component that requires high precision inspection, a new checking fixture specifically designed for that vehicle component has to be designed and manufactured. However, using milling requires relatively expensive and unnecessarily complicated milling machines. Furthermore, the lead time for manufacturing a checking fixture using a milling machine tends to be relatively long.
Accordingly, there is a need for a checking fixture which can be manufacture in a simpler and faster way.